Save and edit your clipboard content as a note file
Tp-Note is a versatile note-taking tool designed for both desktop and console environments. It allows users to create, edit, and manage notes efficiently. Tp-Note is designed to bridge the gap between unstructured clipboard data and organized, local file storage. It is primarily built in Rust and follows a “file-centric” philosophy where the filename itself acts as a synchronized piece of metadata. This tool is ideal for users looking for a simple yet powerful way to manage their notes across different platforms.
A more sophisticated example using the “Zettelkasten” scheme:
Clipboard Integration: Tp-Note can save and edit clipboard content as note files, making it easy to capture information quickly.
Template System: It uses customizable templates to synchronize note metadata with filenames, enhancing organization.
Markdown Support: Users can convert HTML content to Markdown. Notes are rendered from Markdown to HTML when viewed with Tp-Note’s internal web server.
File Management: Notes can be created from existing files or directories, and users can easily navigate and edit their notes.
| Action | Command Example |
|---|---|
| Create a note from clipboard | tpnote (when clipboard contains text) |
| Convert HTML to Markdown | curl https://example.com | tpnote |
| Edit an existing note | tpnote ./path/to/note.md |
| Generate PDF from a note | tpnote -x - note.md |
weasyprint - note.pdf |
On Tue, 2023-12-19 at 12:58 +1100, Dev Rain wrote:
Found Tp-Note awhile back and it has become part of my daily workflow, and indeed part of my daily note-taking life. I wanted to extend my thanks; so thank you. dev.rain
Read more in Tp-Note’s user manual, Download Tp-Note or visit the project page: Tp-Note - Minimalistic note-taking.
User documentation:
Introductory video
Project page:
Tp-Note’s project page, which you are reading right now, lists where you can download Tp-Note and gives an overview of Tp-Note’s resources and documentation.
User manual:
The user manual showcases how to best use use Tp-Note and how to integrate it with your file manager.
Unix man-page:
The Unix man-page is Tp-Note’s technical reference. Here you learn how to customize Tp-Note’s templates and how to change its default settings.
Developer documentation:
API documentation
Tp-Note’s program code documentation targets mainly software developers. The code is split into a library tpnote-lib and the command line application tpnote. The advanced user may consult the Tp-Note’s config module documentation and the constants in the API documentation which explain the various settings. Most of them can be customized through Tp-Note’s configuration file.
Repository:
Installer package for Windows:
As this early version of the Windows installer is not signed yet, Windows will show the error message “Windows protected your PC”. As a work-around, when you click on the link “More info”, a ”Run anyway” button will appear allowing you to continue the installation process. In general, regardless of where a program comes from, I recommend checking every installable file with VirusTotal.
Once installation is complete, right-click on the Desktop and select “Show more options” to find the “New Tp-Note” entry in the menu.
Tp-Note is also available through the Windows Package Manager. To install:
winget install getreu.tpnoteFor more information about winget distribution, see the winget distribution guide.
Following installation, right-click the Desktop and click “Show more options” to reveal the “New Tp-Note” context menu entry.
Package compiled for Debian/Ubuntu:
Open the latest release.
Open assets.
Download the packed executable for your operating system.
Installation: see below.
An official package is available on NetBSD and other “pkgsrc” supported platforms.
To install Tp-Note on NetBSD, simply use the native package manager:
pkgin install tpnoteAn official package is available on NixOS:
environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.tpnote ];First install the Nix package manager available for Linux, MacOS and Windows (WSL2). Alternatively, for Linux there are also prebuilt Deb/Pacman/Rpm Nix installers available.
Once you have the Nix package manager installed on your system, try out Tp-Note with:
nix-shell -p tpnoteor follow installation instructions here: NixOS packages - tpnote
/usr/local/share/man/man1:
/usr/local/share/icons/:
Tp-Note can be installed via a Windows installer package or by placing the binary directly on your desktop for easy access. It is recommended to integrate it into your file manager’s context menu for convenience.
Depending on the availability of installer packages for your operating system, the installation process is more or less automated. For Windows users the fully automated installation package tpnote-latest-x86_64.msi is available. After installation, click right on the desktop and select “Show more options”, then “New Tp-Note” to get started. For more information, please consult the Distribution section above and the Installation section in Tp-Note’s manual.
While upgrading Tp-Note, new features may cause a change in Tp-Notes’s configuration file structure, e.g.:
*** ERROR:
Can not load or parse the (merged) configuration file(s):
---
invalid length 3, expected fewer elements in array in `viewer.served_mime_types`
Note: this error may occur after upgrading Tp-Note due to some incompatible
configuration file changes.
Tp-Note renames and thus disables the last sourced configuration file.
Additional technical details:
* Command line parameters:
tpnote -b
* Sourced configuration files:
/home/joe/.config/tpnote/tpnote.tomlMote, the configuration file backup is stored in the same directory
as the last sourced configuration file,
e.g. /home/joe/.config/tpnote/. If Tp-Note sources more
than one configuration file, consider the possibility of syntax errors
in any of these files (cf. Customization
section of Tp-Note’s man-page).
If the above precompiled binaries do not suite you, you can compile Tp-Note yourself.
Download, compile and install Tp-Note:
Building on Linux
cargo install tpnote
sudo cp ~/.cargo/bin/tpnote /usr/local/bin
# Download icon
cd /usr/local/share/icons
sudo wget https://blog.getreu.net/projects/tp-note/assets/tpnote.svgOn Linux, Tp-Note displays errors and debug messages as notifications. This requires a Linux/BSD based desktop environment that follows the XDG specification, e.g. KDE, Gnome, XFCE, LXDC, Mate (and most others).1
Recommended Linux console and server version
The full-featured version of Tp-Note depends on GUI libraries like Xlib which might not be available on a headless system. Either download the Musl version [x86_64-unknown-linux-musl/release/tpnote] or compile Tp-Note yourself without default features:
cargo install --no-default-features \
--features lang-detection,renderer tpnote
sudo cp ~/.cargo/bin/tpnote /usr/local/binIf Tp-Note’s binary size if of concern, omit the
lang-detection feature in the cargo invocation
above. The lang-detection feature causes 95% of the final
binary size because of its extensive language models.
Building on Windows and macOS
Build the full-featured version2 with:
cargo install tpnoteTp-Note supports cross-compilation for multiple architectures. This section explains how to build binaries that work on Debian/Ubuntu systems, including Raspberry Pi devices.
The project includes pre-configured cross-compilation settings in
.cargo/config.toml. To build Debian/Ubuntu-compatible
binaries, you only need to install the cross-compiler toolchains:
Prerequisites:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install crossbuild-essential-armhf crossbuild-essential-arm64Build for Raspberry Pi 32-bit (ARMv7):
rustup target add armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf
cargo build --release --target armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihfThe binary will be at:
target/armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf/release/tpnote
Build for Raspberry Pi 64-bit (ARM64):
rustup target add aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
cargo build --release --target aarch64-unknown-linux-gnuThe binary will be at:
target/aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/tpnote
Tp-Note can also be cross-compiled from NixOS using the Nix flake. The ARM builds produce binaries compatible with Debian 11+ and Ubuntu 20.04+:
# Build ARMv7 (32-bit) for Raspberry Pi
nix build .#tpnote-armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf
# Build ARM64 (64-bit) for Raspberry Pi and ARM servers
nix build .#tpnote-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnuThe binaries will be in the Nix store. Copy them to your desired location:
cp result/bin/tpnote /path/to/destinationFor a fully static binary that works on any Linux distribution:
rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
sudo apt install musl-tools
cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-muslrustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
sudo apt install binutils-mingw-w64 mingw-w64
cargo build --release --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnuAfter building, verify that your binary links against the correct libraries:
# Check dynamic dependencies (should show glibc, not Nix store paths)
readelf -d target/armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf/release/tpnote | grep NEEDED
# Check the dynamic linker (should point to Debian/Ubuntu paths)
readelf -d target/armv7-unknown-linux-gnueabihf/release/tpnote | grep interpreterThe binary should NOT contain any /nix/store paths. If
it does, the build environment may have introduced Nix-specific
dependencies.
This project follows Semantic Versioning.
Author:
Copyright:
In case an XDG desktop environment is not available, you
can opt out notifications and message boxes by omitting the
message-box feature by adding
--no-default-features --features lang-detection,read-clipboard,renderer,viewer
to cargo install tpnote. Now, all error messages are dumped
on the console from where you started Tp-Note into
stderr.↩︎
When building for Windows or macOS, it does not make
sense to exclude the message-box feature, because - under
Windows and macOS - it does not rely on the notification library.
Instead, it uses direct OS-API calls for popping up alert boxes. As
these calls have no footprint in binary size or speed, always keep the
message-box feature compiled in.↩︎